Paranormal Romance Blog

Karen Whiddon: Writing Is Hard Work and Other Things That Seem Like They Should Be Easy, But Aren’t.

Author Karen Whiddon’s newest paranormal romance novel WILD WOLF (part of The Pack miniseries) hits the shelves this month. But writing it didn’t just happen! Karen blogs about why writing — and a few other things — aren’t as easy as you may think…

by Karen Whiddon, author of WILD WOLF

Writing. People (the non-writers anyway) seem to think a writer simply sits in front of the keyboard, places fingers on the keys, and dashes off a book in a matter of days or weeks.  How I wish it were that simple.  While I’ve heard of writers who claim the story simply “poured” from them, my process is not that easy.  Often I spend hours agonizing over a particular scene, and have been known to stop and try to find the perfect word in the thesaurus.  It’s tough, not only working out the plot details, but the character’s growth and all that.  Yet it seems like it should be easy.  Actually, I’ve heard writing compared to sweating blood on to the page.  Sometimes, that’s pretty accurate.  The Silhouette Nocturne currently on the shelves WILD WOLF, was a culmination of several years of dreams and fragmented images.  It’s a special story and I worked very hard writing it, but it was fun too.  Those are the best kind of books.

Losing weight. Sure, I lost 25 pounds once before (13 years ago), and it wasn’t easy for fun,  but come on.  I don’t remember it being THIS hard.  Last time I counted calories, kept a food log of everything I put in my mouth, and did cardio only (treadmill, two miles) every single day.  It took me from March until July, but I did it.  And I don’t remember suffering so much.  Seriously, I had one normal dinner without counting calories and gained two pounds.  I had to work twice as hard to even get back to the weight I had before the dinner and to start on the downward tract again

And keeping with the above - Movie stars and their bodies.  Sure, they all look perfect.  Yes, we suspect they diet all the time.  But until I hired a personal trainer and started going to the gym 4 days a week for an hour or more each time, I had no idea what they went through.  Those washboard abs and perfectly toned arms and legs don’t come easy folks.  Let me tell you.  Not only do you have to work like heck to even GET them toned, once you achieve that, you STILL have to work constantly to KEEP them that way.  I now have new found sympathy for all those stars who have to look good to appear in public.

Now, what’s yours? The thing that should be easy, but isn’t?  Come on, don’t be shy.

More about WILD WOLF:

Turning her back on humans because of her ability to shape-shift into a wolf, young and beautiful Raven doesn’t believe she needs anyone. Until the day a darkly handsome man appears near her remote cave…and she watches him turn into a wolf.

Simon Caldwell has been sent to assess the threat of a new feral wolf prowling the Rockies. But he’s wholly unprepared for his intense attraction to Raven. His investigation is about to take a deadly turn as he and Raven become the hunted. Now their very survival depends on Simon’s ability to win what this wild wolf holds most dear!

An Interview with Laura Anne Gilman’s Retrievers Wren & Sergei

Ever want to ask characters from a novel what they REALLY think? Laura Anne Gilman delves into the heads of Wren and Sergei from her Retrievers series from Luna Books in a special character interview on her LiveJournal in celebration of her latest book Blood From Stone. Here’s a taste courtesy of Laura Anne!

Wren and Sergei talk about BLOOD FROM STONE

1. Give me a one-line description of your book. The hook, if you will. What’s the “Oooh, cool!” about the book?

For the series as a whole: “A magic-using self-admitted kleptomaniac/professional and her really sexy and deeply frustrating partner, an art dealer with a mysterious past and a slight sex/pain kink he really needs to deal with already, trying to balance work, love, and mayhem in a modern-day Manhattan where electricity = magic.”

For BLOOD FROM STONE specifically?

“Can I answer this one?”
“No”
“Why not?
“Because they asked me. You’re Male Lead — I’m the Heroine.”
“You’re going to gloss all over the stuff you didn’t like.”
“They asked for a hook, not a book report.”
“Ahhh. So what is the hook, Valere? Enlighten us.”
*glares* “After saving the world - okay, New York City - from the force of self-righteous do-evilers, we don’t get the downtime we so desperately deserve, but instead have to turn around and save my esteemed demon sidekick P.B. from the fate he’s been running from for the past *coughmany* years. Which will make a lot of P.B. junkies happy, because you get backstory and trauma, and lots of demon screen-time. I swear he has more fans than we do.”
“It’s the cosplay thing.”
“The what? No, don’t explain. I already know I don’t want to know.”

2. What’s the worst thing about your situation in the book? (Please describe the situation. In great detail.)

“Oh god, where to start? I’m dealing with flashback trauma, people who’re supposed to be dead coming back to give me shit, an old friend being threatened with slavery, and my apartment’s about to go co-op. And the job we’re on? It’s not even a paying gig. Talk about insult to injury.”
“You can’t pick one?”
“Not getting paid. Okay, no, all right, no. The worst thing about this I that if I screw up, P.B.’s screwed. You know what that’s like, having your best friend’s fate depending on you doing the impossible, and doing it perfectly? But hey, no pressure…”

3. What’s the best thing about your situation? (Again, details.)

“Ah… Sergei and I are finally having sex again. Seriously. I can handle most of the crap life throws at me, but not being able to touch him cause I was afraid he’d land back in the hospital? Unfun and really frustrating. I don’t handle frustration well.”
“There’s an understatement. But you honestly think that us having sex again is better than…”
*glares*
“Oh, right. Those are all spoilers, aren’t they? Never mind. Sex it is. Not that I’m insulted that you think…”
“Hey. Just because the lady wanted details doesn’t mean you have to give them to her.”
“Wrenlet, are you blushing?”
“No. Shut up.”

For the rest of the interview — including questions on their outfits, romantic entanglements (of all varieties ), and what they really think about Laura Anne — head on over to Laura Anne Gilman’s LiveJournal.

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Excerpt: From the Mists of Wolf Creek by Rebecca Brandewyne

New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Brandewyne has a new paranormal romance novel out this month from Silhouette Nocturne: From the Mists of Wolf Creek. Read on for an excerpt…

From the Mists of Wolf Creek by Rebecca Brandewyne

A Two-Lane Highway, The Present

There was a storm coming on.

Hallie Muldoon could see it ahead in the distance, where leaden thunderclouds seethed and roiled on the horizon, blotting out the westering sun. At the sight, the strange, nebulous sense of anxiety and urgency she had felt ever since learning of her grandmother’s unexpected death last month heightened within her, and she pressed her foot even harder against the accelerator of the car she drove.

In response, the sporty red Mini Cooper S shot down the narrow two-lane highway that was a patchwork of macadam bounded on either side by long, sweeping green verges abloom with a profusion of wildflowers, beyond which lay checkerboard fields of ripening grain.

Under other circumstances, it would have been a picturesque scene. But at the moment, beneath the lowering sky, it was somehow reminiscent of Van Gogh’s painting Starry Night, and Hallie suffered the disturbing sensation that she was journeying into the distorted realm of an unquiet mind instead of toward the small town of Wolf Creek, her childhood home.

She had not been there since her mother, Rowan Muldoon, had passed away and Gram had sent her back East to live with her two great-aunts, Gram’s spinster sisters, Agatha and Edith. That had been many years ago now, and the beginning of an entirely new life for Hallie, the old one-the one she would have lived had her mother survived-having died along with the only parent she had ever known.

Hallie thought that in some respects, nothing had gone right in her life since that moment.

Too Good To Be True?

The hero in author Kate Donovan’s new novella from Silhouette Nocturne Bites, The Untamed Beast, seems to have it all — strength, speed and amazing sexual attraction. But is it a blessing or a curse? Kate’s blogging at Harlequin’s Paranormal Romance blog to tell you more…

by Kate Donovan, author of The Untamed Beast

When Megan — the heroine of my new Nocturne Bites — sees her college crush Rick again for the first time in years, she thinks it’s the luckiest night of her life. He strides into the bar looking hotter than ever - more powerful, more virile, exuding animal magnetism. He was always attractive, but this is something else. Then he fixates on her like she’s the only female in the room — a far cry from the old days when he barely noticed her.

Megan, Megan, Megan… for a smart girl, she never bothers to ask herself how these changes — turning Rick into a sex god who only has eyes for her — are possible.

And Rick is almost as bad! Over the last few weeks, his body has gone from fit to rippling; his reflexes are off the charts; and women are falling all over him. By his own admission, he at first thought it was just good luck plus good genes — but really? In just weeks?

Come on, characters! Don’t you know that impossibly good luck like this always comes with a price tag? Apparently not, because Rick doesn’t start to see the truth until his brown eyes turn coal black, his friends stop associating with him, and his even temper turns into barely-suppressed rage.

I guess it’s a good thing Rick and Megan are such positive thinkers because The Untamed Beast puts them both through hell — almost literally! If they were pessimists, I’m not sure they’d survive it.

Meanwhile, what about you? How much good luck would it take before you started to worry a little? Suppose you found a winning lottery ticket worth millions? Most of us would embrace it with gusto, right?

What if, on top the lottery ticket, you inherited a charming old castle from a distant relative you’d never heard of? Worried yet? Cat comes back after a three-year absence…. Years of dieting suddenly kick in…. Jensen Ackles asks you to friend him on your social network site….

Would questions start nagging at you? Or, like Megan and Rick, would it have to be something bad before the old adage started ringing in your ears:  If something seems too good to be true….

Rick Diaz came to the hotel bar with two goals: to escape the tortured reality of his new existence and to find a woman. Over the last nine weeks both his body and personality have changed–he is stronger, more aggressive, and has an animal magnetism no woman could resist. But he’s also afraid that once his transformation is complete, he can never have a real relationship again–giving him one more night to enjoy the pleasure of a woman’s touch.

Megan O’Neill turns out to be that woman. Rick used to star in her finest fantasies while they attended college together, though nothing could compare to the fierce passion she experiences during her night with Rick. But when Rick leaves the next morning without saying goodbye, Megan thinks she’ll never set eyes on him again…

Until Rick returns to tell her that he is a Guardian, destined to save the world from evil–and that Megan is the only woman who can help him…

Kresley Cole’s Deep Kiss of Winter ARC Winner

Apologies this is a little later than planned, but I’m sure you’re all anxious to know who won #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole’s contest for an ARC of Deep Kiss of Winter, her upcoming anthology with Gena Showalter coming November 2009 from Pocket Books, which includes a novella from her bestselling Immortals After Dark series of paranormal romance. The lucky winner is….

Doug Knipe [aka SciFiGuy]

Doug, if Kresley & Co. don’t get in touch with you directly first, you can email Brooke at manager @ kresleycole. com about how to collect your prize. Congratulations!

Pssst, don’t be too sad if you didn’t win! You still have a chance to win a copy of Cry Mercy from Toni Andrews…

~Amy

“I Don’t Do Creatures”: Author Toni Andrews’s Beast-Free Paranormal

Can you have a scary paranormal novel without vampires, shape-shifters or other creatures? Author Toni Andrews’s Mercy Hollings series shows that you certainly can! Toni visits the Paranormal Romance Blog to tell you about the latest book in her series, Cry Mercy (on sale now from MIRA Books), what makes her heroine’s power so frightening, AND has a book for a lucky commenter….

by Toni Andrews, author of Cry Mercy

I don’t do creatures.

Don’t get me wrong, I loves me some vampires.  Ditto sexy werewolves (or were-creatures of your choice), demons, shape-shifters, demi-gods and whatever other mythical being you can imbue with a set of rippling abs and a pair of soulful eyes.

I just can’t write them.

I think it’s because, as much as I enjoy reading about all things supernatural, I don’t actually believe that I’m going to run into any of these various critters the next time I decide to take a solo trip through a dark alley or a stroll through the forest at midnight. When I’m awakened in the night by an unexplained thump, I don’t automatically think “werewolf.”  Outside of the confines of a book page or a movie screen, creatures don’t scare me.

But the idea that the innocuous-looking soccer mom across the room might secretly be reading my mind I can totally buy.  And, considering some of the weirdness that crosses my thoughts, that scares the crap out of me.

Mercy Hollings, the protagonist in my series, isn’t a creature.  She may or may not be 100% human but, as she says in book 1, Beg for Mercy, “the X-Rays and blood tests are normal.”  Sometime just before puberty, Mercy developed the ability to compel people to obey her.  This would have been much cooler if she’d known it was happening or that she could control it.

Think about it-do you have adolescent children?  The last time one of them had a temper tantrum, what did he or she suggest that you do?  Something as benign as “Leave me alone” could lead to dire circumstances if it was uttered on a busy city street.  I often hear the next door neighbors’ kids fighting, and the girl has been known to recommend that her brother perform some anatomically impossible acts.

See, that scares me.

Mercy turns 30 in Cry Mercy, the third book in the series and a June release from Mira.  She may be able to control her ability better now than she did at twelve, but it still gets away from her at times, especially when she loses her temper. Which she frequently does.  Or when she drinks. Which she frequently does.

She’s also becoming increasingly telepathic which anyone else (including her sidekick, Sukey) would think is terrific. Mercy, however, sees this new ability in a different light.  If she’s already having trouble controlling what she says, what’s it going to be like now that she has to control what she thinks?

Then there’s the ethical dilemma.  Just because you can read someone’s thoughts, should you?  It’s like opening up someone’s email or reading their diary-you know you shouldn’t, but it’s hard to resist.  And as for compelling others to obey, what’s to stop you from suggesting the bank teller stick a couple extra hundred dollar bills in your cash envelope? And, once you start down that road, where does it end?

Scary.

Contrary to what the members of a certain mind-control group believe, I do not have Mercy’s power of persuasion. (Seriously, there’s this mind control organization, some members of which have read the Mercy series and believe it’s thinly veiled autobiography.  They also think Chris Angel is not a magician. I kid you not.) I’m not telepathic and I don’t see dead people.

Ooooh, now that’s scary: seeing dead people.  Like telepathy, or Mercy’s press, I can buy into the idea that 1) ghosts exist and 2) some people can see them.  That thump in the night that’s not a werewolf?  It might be Grandma Andrews, who is said to haunt the cottage where I live. I’ve not actually met her.  I think the cat’s seen her, though.

Hmmmm. Perhaps in an upcoming installment, someone in Mercy’s world will see some dead people.  Also, I’m planning to introduce a new character in book four who’s telekinetic.  And totally hot, of course.

So, tell me, what scares you?  Leave a comment, and you might win a copy of Cry Mercy.

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If you wish to comment without registering, you may use the username and password “Anonymous”. Just be sure to leave a name/nickname so we know who you are!

For more information about Toni and her books, check out these links:

Toni’s web site: http://toniandrews.com/

Where to send your Self Addressed Stamped Envelope to get a signed book plate for your copy: http://toniandrews.com/CryMercyTour.htm

Toni’s Blog: http://tinyurl.com/ToniBlog

Toni’s TV show: http://toniandrews.com/SoManyBooks.htm

Cry Mercy Trailer: http://tinyurl.com/75vl4s

Book Rx, Toni’s “Book Doctor” service: http://toniandrews.com/BookRx.htm

Author Linda O. Johnston on Valkyries Today

Linda O. Johnston blends Norse mythology and police action in her new book from Silhouette Nocturne, Back to Life. Linda’s here blogging about how she brought Valkyries into today’s world for a passionate paranormal romance…

by Linda O. Johnston, author of Back to Life, Alpha Wolf and Claws of the Lynx

My newest Silhouette Nocturne, BACK TO LIFE, is now on bookstore shelves!  I really enjoyed writing it, and it’s a real thrill to see it there, available for others to read. And what a great cover!

In BACK TO LIFE, the heroine, Skye Rydell, isn’t an ordinary K-9 cop.   She has Valkyrie powers over life and death–and must make a quick decision whether to save SWAT officer Trevor Owens when he is mortally wounded.  When she does, she senses something he has yet to accomplish… as well as an unanticipated connection between them.

In BACK TO LIFE, I made up my own interpretation of Valkyrie powers.  One thing I learned while researching Valkyries is that the actual legends are varied.  In some Nordic myths, Valkyries were considered corpse goddesses, represented by ugly, carrion-eating ravens.  In others, Valkyries were depicted as gorgeous, virginal women who attended dead warriors as they existed in Valhalla.  Or, they were beautiful battle maidens who rode to earth on heavenly steeds to pick over battlefields for the slain warriors who would spend eternity in Valhalla.  In some legends, they did both.  Sometimes they were, instead, prophetesses who predicted the outcomes of battles.  Their numbers varied, and so did the identity of the goddesses who acted as their leaders.  In each case, though, they were involved with the dead or dying.

That’s part of the fun of writing paranormal romance.  An author can make up her own versions of legends, and make them work for the story she creates.  Reality isn’t necessarily a factor, since most people don’t believe those kinds of paranormal beings exist anyway.  But consistency, and making their stories work enough to seem feasible and somewhat realistic–that’s what counts.

There are characteristics inherent in certain legends–werewolves, vampires, etc.–that people tend to think define them.  But that’s not always so.  Vampires may need to drink blood to survive, but not all of them, in the stories of today, attack people and suck blood from their necks.  Werewolves generally change under a full moon, but in today’s stories they may have more control over when it happens, and how.

In BACK TO LIFE, Skye inherited her Valkyrie powers over life and death from a long line of female ancestors and has friends with similar backgrounds who share her powers.  As a K-9 cop, she comes upon a lot of crime scenes because of her job, and in many people are dying or close to death.  She has a decision to make about whether to save their lives, if they are not too close to being gone for her to assist.  For those already past help, she can decide whether to accompany them over the rainbow bridge to a post-life existence worthy of heroes, or not.

When she finds sexy SWAT officer Trevor Owens very close to death, she knows exactly what she must do…

I hope you enjoy BACK TO LIFE, and my modern interpretation of Valkyrie powers!

Linda O. Johnston

www.LindaOJohnston.com

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Author Kresley Cole on What’s Next for the Immortals After Dark & Win an ARC!

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole takes a time-out from writing her next Immortals After Dark story to talk about the future of her award-winning series. Her upcoming releases include Deep Kiss of Winter (11/09) and Pleasure of a Dark Prince (2/10), both available for preorder from Pocket Books. Plus, find out how you can win a advance reading copy of her upcoming book!

Thanks for having me over–very happy to be here! Today, I hope to answer a question I’m often asked: What do you plan for the rest of the IAD series? I’ve listed a few of the highlights below. . . .

What you’ll see more of:

1. IAD installments–lots of ‘em. After Deep Kiss of Winter, a duology with the fantastically talented and winsome Gena Showalter, I’ll have at least four more books in the series!

2. Valkyries. In Deep Kiss of Winter, delicate Valkyrie Daniela the Ice Maiden is wooed by vampire Murdoch Wroth, a former Casanova, legendary for having all the right moves in and out of bed–except with Danii. When they’re together, he’s prone to tripping, unintended insults, and an embarrassing loss of, er, staying power.

Stealing much more screen time will be Regin the Radiant–who likes her men young, dumb, and hung. Find out why she behaves as she does, and if she and her reincarnating berserker, Aidan the Fierce, will finally get it right this time. Aidan, by the way, is exceptionally intelligent, untold centuries old, and only meets one of Regin’s requirements from above.

And of course we we’ll see more Nucking Futs Nïx. Apparently, readers enjoy her antics. Coincidentally, I *adore* writing them. See, readers? This is why we’re so right for each other. Don’t fight it, my love(s).

3. More overlapping timelines. I swear with each book that it’ll be the last time I pull this stunt, because–and here’s the thing–getting those timelines right is [expletive deleted] hard. And just to add stress to this foolish endeavor? The overlapping books must still be stand alone stories.

Weaving timelines leads to Red Bull abuse, premature aging, and husbands dodging thrown objects. [Sorry, Swede! Upside? You're getting really spry!]

Ah, but once I see the timelines of multiple books dovetailing. . . ? Sigh. That feeling’s a jot addictive. Regrettably, I can see me going down that dark, treacherous path again. Don’t make me go alone. Buy my books. Hold me.

4. More hot sexxors, and getting hotter. For years, I’ve been threatening to take the gloves off when writing love scenes. And I think I’ve finally browbeaten my editor into letting me go *crazy.* I’ve broken her. Ha-ha, just kidding, L, nobody’s broken. (I’ve totally broken her!)

5. Witches galore. Brazen Carrow the Incarcerated brings all her swagger and delinquency to center stage, while turning her poor hero’s life inside out. Who is her hero? you ask. Exactly who he shouldn’t be, I answer coyly.

6. More luxury goods of exorbitant costs. Life is long for immortals; luxury is nice crucial to survival. Plus, it’s fun to fictionally destroy. I could write about demons totaling two-million-dollar cars and Lykae biting off thousand-dollar panties all–day–long.

7. Segue to Lykae. Werewolf Garreth MacRieve’s story, Pleasure of a Dark Prince, comes out next February. We’ll see him battle to win the heart of mysterious Lucia the Huntress–and also how he’ll react when she drops a bombshell of an obstacle between them….

So, I hope you enjoy where the series is going! If you’re new to the IAD, and would like to see where it’s been, here’s the backlist:

1.   “The Warlord Wants Forever” in PLAYING EASY TO GET Feb 2006

2.    A HUNGER LIKE NO OTHER April 2006

3.    NO REST FOR THE WICKED Halloween 2006

4.    WICKED DEEDS ON A WINTER’S NIGHT Halloween 2007

5.    DARK NEEDS AT NIGHT’S EDGE May 2008

6.    DARK DESIRES AFTER DUSK June 2008

7.    KISS OF A DEMON KING February 2009

8.    “Untouchable” in DEEP KISS OF WINTER (a duology with Gena Showalter) November 2009

9.    PLEASURE OF A DARK PRINCE February 2010

For those seasoned Loreans, thank you for all your support and readership!

www.kresleycole.com

www.twitter.com/kresleycole

Score an ARC of Kresley’s upcoming story from Deep Kiss of Winter! One winner will be randomly drawn from the comments below. The contest ends on June 16th and the winner will be announced the next day. (The ARC will be mailed on 7-20-09)

If you’d like to leave a comment without registering, we’ve created an account you can use: username & password are both “Anonymous”. Don’t forget to sign your name/nickname so we can name the winner!

A New Buffy Movie to Hit the Big Screen?

By Amy W.

We’ve discussed Buffy the Vampire Slayer on this blog many times as one of readers’ favorite paranormal TV shows — it certainly does have two of the screen’s sexiest vampires with Angel and Spike (and remember when Angel vs. Spike was the big debate years before Edward  vs. Jacob?).  The popularity of Buffy has also been credited as one of the turning points that brought about the current explosion of paranormal romance.

So when rumors started swirling online a couple weeks ago about a possible new Buffy movie without creator Joss Whedon, I’m sure many of you had the same reaction as me — WHAT?!?!?!?!

More details — from Buffy collaborator and the would-be new director Fran Rubel Kuzui – popped in posts and articles from sites like BD Horror all the way to The New York Times. There would be no existing characters like Spike or Willow, and follows the idea that there would be a new slayer for the next generation (would that mean Buffy or Faith dies?)

In the aftermath of other recent franchise revamps like Star Trek, Batman, and Terminator, what do you think about the possibility of a new Buffy — are you totally against the idea, or would you give it a chance?

Jodi Lynn Copeland Spices Things Up with a Super-Sexy Paranormal Novella

Author Jodi Lynn Copeland keeps things sexy this month with her novella in the paranormal-themed erotic anthology What Happens In Vegas… After Dark, available now from Spice books. Read on to learn more about Jodi’s firefighter hero, succubus heroine, and free online read now available at eHarlequin.com!

by Jodi Lynn Copeland, author of “Hot for Revenge” in What Happens In Vegas… After Dark

Hi everyone, and a big thanks to Harlequin for inviting me to blog with you all today!

As you likely know by now, my latest Harlequin release is the What Happens In Vegas… After Dark anthology. My story, “Hot For Revenge”, is written in the first person and involves Ryan, the brother of the hero from my novella in the first What Happens In Vegas anthology.

Ryan stood out to me as someone I just had to get to know more as I was writing the first novella. It was clear this tall, dark, and dimpled firefighter had a secret going on, and I couldn’t wait to uncover it! Boy, though, I had no idea what it was going to be, or that the heroine from “Hot For Revenge”, was going to be out to see poor Ryan killed for that secret.

The heroine, Deitre, is a succubus, the daughter of a demon, and the best friend of a woman Ryan used to date. Of course, Ryan doesn’t know that. He also doesn’t know that she’s anything but human and a major hottie. Another of Deitre’s good friend’s Karen also doesn’t know that she’s a succubus, but I do think sooner or later she’s bound to find out. Why’s that? Well, you’ll have to check out the free weekly read, Hot and Wild, going on right now at eHarlequin.com to discover that answer. Hot and Wild is a short story featuring Karen and her man, who both have cameos in After Dark.

I hadn’t gotten to write a lot of paranormals the year before I wrote “Hot For Revenge”. I was contracted for a number of contemporary stories, and so I was extra anxious to get moving on it. I had such fun exploring Deitre’s demonic ways, and seeing if maybe there wasn’t an angel hiding out beneath her wings. And apparently it left me on a paranormal kick, as I’ve written a few other paranormal stories since that time.

Right now I am working on a paranormal romantic suspense–my first and lasting love. This one doesn’t happen to be erotic, but I am sure there will be a few sexy scenes along the way. The question is, how sexy should they be? The trend these days seems to be to meld erotic sex scenes with otherwise single title or mainstream plotlines. I have to admit if I want to read hot sex, I pick up an erotic story. If I don’t, I don’t really care to see the scenes get too long or explicit in a mainstream or single title. In fact, I will often skip those scenes to get to the real story.

What about you? Do you like hot sex no matter the genre? Are do you prefer to see the truly explicit stuff left to a book with an erotic branding or label?

~ Jodi

www.JodiLynnCopeland.com

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Don’t forget to read author Anya Bast’s blog post about her novella in What Happens in Vegas…After Dark , too!